Supes, DA need to leave
Dear, D.A. and County Supervisors: I really think you people
should be ashamed of the continuing soap opera down there. At the
very least you are wasting the citizens’ money. In an era of
reduced public spending, underfunded schools and an extremely
hazardous rainy season, you people wage a war of egos at the public
expense.
There is only one solution that truly will benefit the people
and county of San Benito: resignation of all parties
– both D.A. and supervisors. Give the people a chance to form a
new government of true public servants.
Alex McPhail
Hollister
‘No confidence’ is selective
Gangs are a rising problem in SBC, and Hollister police just foiled an identity theft ring. Is this a good time for supervisors to keep money from the DA’s office?
They even gave a vote of “no confidence” to the DA. I don’t recall the board taking such action with John Hodges. In 2004, Hodges was the elections official whose office was threatened with a lawsuit by the Federal Government over such things as duplicate absentee ballots. The result of that election was that at the 11th hour, the vote count narrowly tipped in favor of Jamie De La Cruz. The “no confidence” vote is more ironic since this same board voted against an independent ethics committee as one of its first acts of office.
Pat Loe in district 3 seems to be the only supervisor with common sense. She was the lone supervisor that voted for an ethics committee, which was supposed to make local government more accountable after a corrupt election. We need more people like Loe on the board. Tracie Cone, who is running in district 4, seems like she too would provide some much-needed common sense to local government. And like Loe, I’m sure Cone also would support an ethics committee.
Until Cruz, Botelho, Marcus, and Monaco stop hiding and agree to such a committee, citizens should cast a vote of “no confidence” the first chance they get.
Mark Agan
Hollister
Employers are the law breakers
When America figures out that inflated home equity and cheap labor to fuel it is not a product, it is merely higher taxation and fuel for more regulation, American citizens might do something about their exclusive province, punish lawbreakers who hire illegal aliens.
The law breaking employers are the ones who are stealing your tax dollars, not the illegal aliens. Law breaking employers are the ones creating a magnet to mandate the construction of schools, augment hospital capacity without adequate means for compensation for services except to pass it on to you, a mandate to construct more housing, thus providing them job security and a looming environmental disaster. As if that couldn’t be topped, they run for political office, and rezone their property and their friends’ property for future development.
Soon it will be impossible to grow any food in the US and you will have to eat food without any EPA or USDA regulations. Oh, maybe you won’t notice since food and energy are never included in inflation rates from the liars you elect. Home equity increases have made you lazy. So lazy you don’t recognize that your high school promotes advocacy rather than a debate on the illegal, not legal immigration.
Who is the greater criminal, the illegal alien, the law-breaking employer, or the voter? Don’t forget that two Department of Home security officials are currently under indictment for seducing a minor and the other for exposing himself to a teenager. Guess what? You are on the hook for their retirement for over $100,000 per year each per year.
Mark Dickson
Hollister
Wary of broad brush stroke
John Yewell paints a false picture of what happened to land in California. Very likely, some of it was obtained by force and violence but, by no means, was all of it acquired that way. To say Mexican landowners were “systematically stripped” of their holdings is painting with a broad brush, which is garbage. In many cases, they simply sold their land due to economic or other family circumstances.
My grandfather bought our ranch in 1906 from the descendents of Don Pacheco, for whom Pacheco Pass is named. He wired an offer to Dr. Roca, who was married to Pacheco’s granddaughter, and Roca accepted it. That’s all there was to it. I guarantee that he didn’t hold a gun to Roca’s head and say “Give me your ranch or your life!” Pacheco owned land from the crest of the Gabilans to where San Luis Reservoir is today, except for a strip of it was disposed of through force.
Where does Yewell think Bolado Park came from? Although Mr. Bolado was not the original grantee of the land, he purchased it from the original grantee’s family and Joaquin Bolado was no Angleo.
Even more to the point the ranch that is now a state park on top of Pacheco Pass remained in Francisco’s family until just a few years ago when Paula Fatjo, a direct descendent, left it to the state upon her death.
Bill Hawkins
Hollister
SV Symphony enchanting
What an enchanted evening was had by those fortunate to attend the South Valley Symphony concert held in the mission church in San Juan Bautista Saturday evening, 8th of April. The lucky ones heard George Bizet’s 3rd Symphony played flawlessly by the orchestra under the baton of Henry Mollicone.
I have been around and have heard symphony orchestras for years and years, but never have I heard, nor enjoyed, such beautiful music in such an impressive setting. Upon entering the church, I had my doubts about the acoustics. How will the orchestra sound in this building with its massive arches, a high ceiling, adjacent halls, and a back wall with multiple alcoves up to the ceiling? The acoustics could not have been better.
What a setting for the orchestra with that wall with six alcoves rising behind; each alcove holding a Christian saint against a scarlet backdrop. Words cannot describe the beauty of that setting; the subdued lighting, the candles – all most impressive. Then there was Bizet’s Symphony; beautiful, softly repeated heavenly sounds most appropriate for a church.
To think this great concert was available in San Juan Bautista is truly remarkable.
I was a bit saddened to learn this was Henry Mollicone’s last concert as conductor of the South Valley Symphony. He will be missed!
I am hoping for a repeat performance of a symphony concert in this mission church in the coming years. Boy, if so, what a treat there is in store for us.
J. G. McCormack
Hollister
Supes, DA need to leave
Dear, D.A. and County Supervisors: I really think you people should be ashamed of the continuing soap opera down there. At the very least you are wasting the citizens’ money. In an era of reduced public spending, underfunded schools and an extremely hazardous rainy season, you people wage a war of egos at the public expense.
There is only one solution that truly will benefit the people and county of San Benito: resignation of all parties – both D.A. and supervisors. Give the people a chance to form a new government of true public servants.
Alex McPhail
Carmel
Christians must be political
Regarding John Yewell’s column “Recalling America’s religious diversity,” some clarification is indicated. To correctly recall our religious heritage, one must know some fundamentals. What Mr. Yewell calls “the narrowness of a noisy, demanding minority” represents the majority of religious people in the U.S., which are indeed evangelical Christains but whose voice he doesn’t want to hear.
They are only obeying God who instructs us to “be subject to the higher powers” (government) which “are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1). The Declaration of Independence made the people of our nation one of these “powers of the Earth” with a government-instituted to secure certain unalienable rights endowed by their Creator.
Thus, participation in government and politics is not optional for responsible, free Christians who have been entrusted with power of self-government, or as Abraham Lincoln put it, “government of the people, by the people and for the people.”
It is exercising their patriotic and sacred duty to God and country, an apparently unfriendly concept to Mr. Yewell.
Larry Perkins
